Comfort Zone
by dear.lilan
Summary: Keith always came across as a pretty confident guy. And he was, really. Except for one little thing.


Keith walks in to the Altean castle with his head down, gaze locked on the floor and lips firmly shut.

Why is he so worried though? Has he made a huge mistake? It's just braces, and the rest of team Voltron is pretty friendly. Of course he wouldn't be able to avoid some jokes and comments, but between some smirks here and sympathetic looks there, it shouldn't be too bad.

Except...

Lance.

Lance had started to pick on Keith since day one. The list of nicknames was endless and grew bigger every day, covering everything there was to be covered, from Keith's mullet, to his music taste, to his red jacket, so Keith tries his hardest to convince himself that another nickname about his braces won't be too hard to handle.

But on the other hand, Keith also knows that Lance won't let him live this down. At least while those godforsaken brackets were glued to his teeth. After all, Lance usually made fun of things that Keith was perfectly comfortable with. And Keith can already imagine Lance throwing him all of his snarky comments, flashing his perfect, straight smile… ugh, why can't he have straight teeth too?! It is just so unfair, and the sharp wires digging against his cheeks are now a painful and constant reminder.

Keith has never been too self-conscious about his image. Sure, sometimes his hair refuses to cooperate in the mornings, and he does work out to add some muscle to his skinny shape. The only thing that ever bothered him is his smile: the left side on the top, where his teeth were overlapped and misaligned, the bottom arch that was crooked and messy. But he never really cared enough to get it fixed. It seemed superfluous and unnecessary back then.

But then he started having some bad pains in his jaw joints. It wasn't too bad until his mandible started clicking every time he closed his mouth. Coran ran some tests and it wasn't anything a cryopod could fix.

So, they flew to a planet with blue aliens that studied Earth, and were absolutely thrilled to try and help with Keith's problem in exchange for some human knowledge. The diagnosis was almost immediate after some exams – he had TMJ problems, caused by bruxism and stress, and also by the bad positioning of his teeth.

The alien scientist had suggested either fixing his teeth (with contraptions very much similar to Earth braces), or getting some kind of night guard. The latter seemed like the easier option, so Keith would be having it fitted today.

However, when Keith went in, alone, he wondered whether it would be worth it to fix his teeth, and, in a spur of the moment, he asked how long it would take to correct his teeth. The scientist told him that one and a half decapheeb should do the trick, before asking him if that was what he wanted, and Keith found himself saying yes.

He started to regret his decision about halfway through the procedure. What was he getting himself into? The tools disposed on the table didn't look too friendly, and he had been laying with his mouth open for almost an hour, having only a slight idea of what was being done. He didn't want this! He did want straight teeth, but braces?!

The scientist stopped what he was doing, and put the chair back up, getting Keith into a sitting position. "Alright, I'm nearly done, I just need to get a few more things. Meanwhile, just choose the color for your ligatures."

Keith could finally feel what had been done so far, and it wasn't a pleasant sensation. The pieces of metal glued to his teeth felt large, and rubbed against the insides of his cheeks. He was handed several colors to choose from, and quickly decided on dark blue, feeling like it would be the most discrete he could get. As the alien got back and leaned the chair back once again, he could only hope this final part wasn't too painful.

The wires were tightened and he was sent home, after some instructions from the alien about his braces, as well as a warning that his mouth would start hurting sometime in the next couple of hours, and would be really sore for at least a few days.

At this point, though, Keith was too nervous to even worry about the pain or about how uncomfortable it already was. The only thing in his mind was how everyone would react – how Lance would react. Even Keith himself had been sort of shocked after the scientist handed him a mirror to finally see his new braces – he could only wonder what everyone would say about it.

"Hey, you're back! So, how did it go?" Shiro's friendly voice echoes in the hallway.

Keith's stomach does a backflip. Suddenly, he's terrified of letting anyone see his teeth, and his mind races, thinking of ways of keeping his mouth closed for a year and a half, and-

But Shiro is here now, and deep down, Keith knows he'll realize something is up right away. So he just tries to speak slowly, enouncing his words as carefully as possible, and quickly throws his hair in front of his face to hide as much as he could. "It went well."

Shiro frowns, and tries to get a closer look at him. "Are you alright? You're acting strange."

'Mm yeah, everything's fine.'

'Then why are you hiding behind your hair?'

Keith swallows.

Shiro places one hand on Keith's left shoulder, while the other clumsily grabs the bangs that hang in front of his face, and pulls it up, completely uncovering Keith's face. "Much better. You were saying?"

Keith purses his lips, squeezing them into a tight line, trying not to wince at the increased pressure inflicted on his teeth, and just shrugs, feeling blood rush to his cheeks. "Did they give you novocaine and left your tongue numb? Is that why you don't wanna talk? And why you're hiding?" Shiro inquires, one eyebrow raised, and his face inches close from Keith's.

Shiro sighs, dropping Keith's hair and backing away a bit, before attacking Keith's sides with tickles, as he squirms uncontrollably. "Ah come on, don't run away, you look like you need some cheering up!" Shiro moves his hands to Keith's neck and tickles harder. 'Come one, just laugh!'

And Keith does. His neck is his ticklish spot after all. It isn't for more than a second, but Shiro doesn't need more time to realize it.

'You got _braces_?!'


End file.
